Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Another Year Another DADA Professor	By : kotonori Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1917 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Avoidance
- 2-Reunion
- 3-Need
- 4-Deceit
- 5-Questions
- 6-Scheming
- 7-Photographs
- 1
- 2
- 3
Another Year, Another DADA Professor
Chapter 2: Reunion

Disclaimer: I know these really don't save you from getting sued, but no one's been sued by JKR yet, so we've got hope, right? I don't own anything except the plot and my original character, Malachai Tomaren. Go me.

Pairings: Lucius/Severus, Severus/OC later

Warnings: Obviously this contains slash. If you have a problem with that, you are hereby notified to get over it, go elsewhere, and worry about more important things.

------------------------------------------

The next few days passed without much fuss or excitement, which was nice for Severus. He went about intimidating first-years and was unsurprisingly rewarded with very few students who could grasp the broader potential of potions. Once again, his beginning classes were filled with a lot of silly wand wavers who thought that a potion only had merit if it could bring you out in interestingly colored spots.

One group of first-years in particular, Slytherin he hated to admit, seemed to take great joy in seeing their concoctions explode, preferably all over the Gryffindors. So they tried it every class. He thought he was actually going to have to start giving out detentions to Slytherins, horror of horrors. Oh, they seemed sufficiently cowed when he gave them his best malicious stare and reprimanded them for their foolishness. Yet, the next day, they would be up to their old tricks. It was horribly Slytherin of them, and so he felt conflicting emotions of pride and extreme annoyance because they ought to be doing that sort of thing in a class that wasn't taught by their head of house. Ah well. He supposed he couldn't have a Draco in every year.

First week of term was always the most hectic, mostly because of the first-years, and Snape spent plenty of time out of his dungeons and in the hallways, directing lost students and generally keeping order. Or trying to. That young group of Slytherins did seem to be unable to hold themselves still for any span of time. He found himself wondering on a daily basis if they all wouldn�t benefit from a trip to St. Mungo�s.

This had come to absorb his thoughts now; Hogwarts and his students. It was nice to put all other aspects of his life out of the way for a while and concentrate on his job, on his potions. He could forget the rest of the world when he immersed himself in Hogwarts, and consequently was quite unprepared when the real world came crashing in.

It came one early morning when he sat in his office, grading some of the first homework of the year before classes began, piles of parchment rolls on his desk and his favorite quill with the special pot of red ink within reach. He took particular care to go through every sentence of every roll, finding minute flaws where no one else might. It filled up the empty time, kept him from thinking about anything else.

He was crossing out an entire paragraph of Rocelyn Borgin's parchment, a first-year's assignment on three ways potions affect the wizarding world. It was about the most general question one could ask, so simple to answer because the answer was limitless, and this was why he gave it to the students new to his classes. It was his way of being nice, and yet this girl was going on about explosions. Honestly.

Suddenly, he realized that he was not alone. He felt a presence, very close to him. In fact.. it was standing on the edge of Rocelyn's parchment, staring at him. A house-elf.

The urge to leap out of his skin left him after a moment, and then he cleared his throat. "I didn't call for you.." he began, thinking it was naturally one that lived in Hogwarts.

"No, sir," the ugly creature rasped, "Groe is sent by his Master to give Severus Snape a message, sir." The elf tugged on the sack that covered him with anxious movements.

It was then that Severus developed the headache. "Who is your Master, Groe?" he asked, as calmly as he could.

The house-elf looked distinctly uncomfortable, and its big ears drooped. "Groe was told not to say, Sir."

Severus felt a weight drop into his stomach. A dozen people's names went through his head, all of them people who he didn't wish to be given messages by. "..What's the message then?" he finally asked.

Groe rubbed the end of his pointy nose, and glanced around owlishly, as if the walls had ears. Snape just looked irritated. "Master says that you must go home tonight, Sir, at midnight. Someone will be there that wants to talk to you."

Severus' eyebrows rose in alarm. He too looked around, but more for a place to disappear into. His house.. he'd just moved back to Hogwarts a month ago in preparation for the new year, he didn't actually use the house during the school year. It would look strange if he just left.. he'd have to tell Dumbledore about it, anyway. This was not the first time he'd been given a message like this. Usually, he recognized the house-elf, and he'd been expecting such a message, because it meant that Lucius wanted to meet. Conflicting emotions raged through him, and he wondered for an insane moment if Lucius was using someone else's elf to make contact. But Lucius was in Azkaban.. if there had been a prison break, surely he would have heard about it immediately�.

Or maybe this was how he was to hear about Lucius' escape. Severus met the elf's wide eyes. "Groe, who is your Master?" he asked again, quietly and with malice, hoping he could scare it out of the little creature.

Groe hunched his shoulders nervously. Severus hadn't thought it possible, but the elf's eyes got even bigger. "Groe cannot say, Sir, Groe was specifically told not to say!"

Severus sighed. He paused to rub his temple. "Then who am I to be expecting at home?"

"Groe was not told, Sir, Groe was told Severus Snape would know who it was, Sir."

Merlin. It had to be Lucius.

"Alright, thank you Groe. Get out of here before anyone sees you." Not that Groe was in danger of that. He just suddenly wanted the house-elf to be gone. He wanted to forget about the whole thing, to stay at Hogwarts that night and pretend he'd never seen the elf. Severus stood, glancing around, and started pacing around his desk. He just couldn't be still with news like that. He heard the snap of fingers, and watched Groe disappear.

He halted in his path and looked around suddenly, feeling out of sync with the castle around him. The few months with Lucius imprisoned had meant hardly any contact with death eaters at all, which had afforded him with a small sense of relief. He'd guiltily allowed himself to ignore that part of his life, to take a break from not only the spying for Dumbledore, but the lying to Dumbledore. He wanted to help the Order of the Phoenix as much as he possibly could; he didn't mind risking his life to spy for them if it meant an end to Voldemort and his death eaters, but he still wasn't entirely truthful with Dumbledore. Not all the time. Not about Lucius and their secret meetings.

Not about the sex.

It had been such a relief when he'd had an excuse to stop their meetings, despite the reason behind it. He didn't have to lie to Dumbledore after that. Now he felt as guilty for his relief as he did for letting the meetings occur in the first place. And what was he going to do? Lucius would be at his house tonight, waiting for him, probably fresh from Azkaban and raiding his kitchen. Then his double life would begin again.

And then there was Dumbledore. He would want to know that Lucius was out, of course, he would be especially glad to know where Lucius was. He had to tell him. Dumbledore would want to know what Lucius told him, what Voldemort was planning next. That, Severus would be glad tve ove over. He had to go tonight, simply for that reason. The Order needed to know what the death eaters were up to. Dumbledore wouldn't send Aurors to his house.. that would definitely make Lucius suspicious, and there'd be no point sending him back to a place he could obviously escape from.

'Everything will be alright,' he told himself. 'You're going to be harboring a death eater that you might not be able to hand over if Dumbledore ordered you to, but he wouldn't do that because it would give you away as a spy, so everything is fine.' Fine. Of course. Nothing odd or dangerous about it.

------------------------------------------

The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly, and Dumbledore kept popping up every time he thought he finally had found a moment to himself. Finally, Severus answered a summons to the headmaster's office, and explained what exactly had made him so 'green about the gills', as Albus had put it.

Dumbledore had of course been pleased to learn where Lucius was, as indeed a prison break had been reported in that morning's Daily Prophet. Apparently he'd been hoping that Lucius would contact Severus, seeing 'how well Lucius got on with him'.

The meeting had left Severus with a stomachache. He marched down the corridors back to his dungeons, trodding on quite a few toes and not even pausing to smile at Draco Malfoy, who looked positively horrified that Snape had brushed past him without even an approving look. He was just waiting for someone to get in his way - and wouldn't it be nice if that were Harry Potter - waiting for the moment to attack. The next person to so much as breathe in his direction was getting points taken from his or her house.

Just before the dungeons and safety, to his utter horror, Malachai Tomaren came barging around a corner. He was speeding towards Severus with an armful of books, long hair obscuring vision of his face, but of course Severus knew who it was. The foreigner. He watched Malachai rush straight towards him as everything seemed to slow down, and in that moment he had a very clear thought: 'Surely he's not going to hit me..'

Severus finished that thought about a meter away from where he'd started it, with a gangly body wriggling out of his lap, and the phrase "Voyages with Vampires" permanently embedded into his forehead from when the book struck him in the temple. He glared hard at Malachai, who was struggling valiantly to regain his footing. "I cannot believe you just ran into me. Do I have a target painted on my face?"

Malachai actually looked. "No. Just 'Voyages with Vampires'. Sorry. I don't know who would make a book with the title raised from the cover like that." His cheeks flushed.

Severus vaguely realized the crowd that had initially materialized at the scene of the scuffle was edging away upon seeing him. Good. He noted that the boyish blushing coming from Tomaren was positively the most nauseating picture he'd ever seen. And if it weren�t insulting enough that he�d just been clubbed over the head, the bastard had the nerve to hit him with one of Lockhart�s books.

"You're not serious." Hogwart's new Defense Professor was reading Lockhart. They were all doomed. Voldemort was going to make Hogwarts his main base of operations, and sitting at the dark lord's feet would be Malachai, reading his stupid 'Voyages with Vampires'.

Malachai began picking up books. A few students had crept back over to help. Mostly Ravenclaws, he noticed, which Severus found ironic. They were supposed to be the intellectuals of Hogwarts, so what exactly were they doing anywhere near Tomaren?

Malachai looked back up at him, and stood, with only half the books he had started with. "Well, I.."

Snape glared.

"Sorry," Malachai mumbled, then took off past him.

Snape was left staring at a well-read copy of 'Zombies, Vampires and Werewolves: a DIY Guide', which a Ravenclaw was rescuing from the stone floor. He finally stood, feeling foolish for still being seated, and swept past them all without a backwards glance. On the way back to his chambers, he thought of several scathing insults he should've hurled at the young Professor, and his bad mood increased.

------------------------------------------

The house-elf had said midnight, but Severus left Hogwarts as soon as he'd done a curfew check. He'd needed to get away from that castle and its enveloping aura of warmth and friendliness. His house was dark and dank, much like the dungeons at the school, and a chill fall breeze cut through him as he stood outside his door, staring at the knocker. He felt the idiot, knocking at his own house, but knowing who was inside was throwing him off. He stood outside a few more moments, telling himself it was purely because the chilly air felt good against his traitorous skin, and then finally unlocked the door with a charm and stepped inside.

The foyer was empty and dark, as was the main hall it opened into, though further down in the den he could see a light on. He made his way down the hall, treading loudly so that Lucius would hear him coming. He knew he ought to call out, but stayed silent anyway, not wanting to draw Lucius out. He was not looking forward to what he would see when he got to the den, and was rather convinced that Lucius would be dirty, unkept, ghastly thin and missing a limb or two.

The sound of his footsteps echoing loudly in the silence of the house was unnerving. He expected the small sounds of life as Lucius moved about, but it seemed as if he were quite alone. He would've liked that, but the light told otherwise. He came to the open door and peeked reluctantly around the jam, only to see an empty room. Blinking, he stepped inside and did a more thorough examination. Upon closer inspection, he found that the brown leather couch was occupied by a human-shaped lump hidden beneath the blanket he normally kept draped over his recliner. The couch's occupant was completely obscured from view but for an arm hanging off the edge, its wrist and hand peeking out from underneath the blanket. The skin was pale, and the long nails on the fingers were uneven and cracked. He crept closer, spying the top of a white-blonde head as he moved around to the opposite end of the couch.

Well, either it was a complete stranger or it was Lucius, because he only knew one wizard with hair that fine and light colored. Severus felt a swell of pity realizing that Lucius had probably fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion. He looked around the room, wondering if he'd missed anyone else, but it was quite empty. Sighing heavily, he turned and shrugged out of his traveling cloak, draping it across the recliner. Then he left the room, to make an inspection of his house.

His search turned up a pile of soiled, ragged clothing and a pair of very muddy shoes - the last of which had apparently been taken off on his Persian rug - of course, Lucius would be thoughtless enough to find the most expensive spot in the house to get his dirty things on, and on a family heirloom, no less. Grumbling, he took the lot of it and tossed it in the bin in the kitchen.

When he turned around from this task, planning on checking on Lucius again, he was startled to see the man standing in the doorway to the kitchen with the blanket wrapped around and tied off at his waist. Well, that explained a question that had been on his mind when he was throwing away the clothes. He stared unabashedly at Lucius, mostly at the bare torso that had clearly lost a bit of muscle mass in the few months he'd been away in prison.

"Lucius." That name held all the shock Severus had felt over the past day, all the dread and relief as well. He didn't know what to do staring at this man who'd become a stranger in such a short time, and so probably looked quite a fool as he stood gaping like a fish out of water.

"Severus," Lucius greeted in turn, though his voice was calm and collected. In fact, Severus belatedly realized that Lucius looked quite clean and his hair, though it had lost a bit of its former luster, was shiny and brushed. Severus didn't want to know what state his bathroom was now in. "I wasn't expecting you yet. Didn't the house-elf contact you?"

Severus felt a moment of exasperation - Lucius was already in control, dealing from the position of power as if Severus was the one in need here. "It is my house, Lucius."

Lucius shrugged and gripped the edge of the blanket with one hand. "I couldn't find your clothes."

Severus sighed. Lucius hadn't been to look for his clothes - he knew where the bedroom was, and Severus was fairly sure he could figure out how to work a simple closet. "Let me see if I have anything that would fit you." There was a time, not long ago, when this would have been an impossibility, but now Severus wouldn't be surprised.

Lucius nodded if if it were a matter of course. "Something nice."

Severus continued to stand there, rooted to the spot. This wasn't how their reunion should be starting. It was probably better for his feelings of guilt over this matter, but he didn't like this awkward feeling. He had imagined quite a different picture altogether: Lucius dirty and draped in rags, falling at Severus' feet when the other man found him, Severus consoling a needy Lucius, getting him cleaned up and combing out the mass of tangles from that gorgeous mane of hair, and then Lucius' grateful smile as Severus put him to bed. A part of him had been looking forward to this different Lucius, but the man stood before him now just as haughty as ever, even if he did have the look of the very recently starved.

"Right." Spoiled prick. He shook his head and walked back towards the door. Lucius didn't move for a moment, and Severus thought he was going to say something, but then the older man stepped out of the doorframe and let him pass. He turned down the hall towards the staircase at the end, listening to Lucius' softer footfalls as he followed.

The trip to the second floor was spent in silence, accompanied only by their footsteps on the carpeted stairs. Severus was getting tired of the sound by the time they reached the top. "So. How did you escape?"

A hand sliding over his hip possessively stopped him in his tracks, and Lucius bumped into him lightly from behind. "That's for later," he whispered over Severus' shoulder, making him shiver. Only Lucius could keep such composure after being free only a few short hours, Severus thought. It really was irritating. He frowned, though Lucius couldn't see it. The hand left his side, and he continued on.

"Alright," he muttered, trying to give an impression of unconcern as he led the way into his room. The decorations here were as they were everywhere - simple lines and muted tones. The familiarity of his bedroom was subconsciously relaxing him, which was good, because he hadn't felt so on edge around Lucius since his friend had first joined Voldemort's side.

Lucius immediately moved to the bed and sat down on its edge, watching Severus with the full weight of his gaze. Severus paused a moment to wonder at how little life in Azkaban had apparently effected Lucius, but didn't really know how to properly phrase a question like that when Lucius seemed so unwilling to discuss the subject, so he busied himself instead on finding something Lucius would wear.

This proved to be quite a task, as everything he found Lucius turned his nose up at. After going through half the closet, Severus was beginning to feel a bit exasperated with his friend.

"Listen, Lucius," he snapped, turning en pointe to face the blonde, "You can either pick something out now or go around naked. It's up to you."

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Lucius asked, with the familiar Malfoy trademark smirk.

It was after eleven p.m., Severus had been up since five, and he hadn�t exactly had a good day. He really wasn't in the mood for this right now, in fact, he hadn't even realized the implications of his previous phrase. Severus' lips compressed in a thin line, and he merely pointed at the pile of clothing Lucius had carelessly discarded on his floor. "Pick. something."

Lucius sighed, as if Severus were grossly overreacting, and picked out a garment from the pile apparently at random. Severus barely held back a scream. "This will do, I suppose," Lucius said reluctantly, turning the clothing over in his hands as if looking for imperfections in the fabric. "I won't be going out in public for a time, anyway.."

Merlin. "About that," Severus began cautiously, wondering just what Lucius' plans were now that he'd escaped.

"Tomorrow." Lucius answered, effectively halting any further inquiries. "Just find me something to wear to bed, I'm tired."

Severus noticed the lines around Lucius' eyes come into sharp focus as this revelation was made. He realized then that all the weariness and stress weren't really missing, but rather that Lucius was just that good at hiding his weaknesses.noddnodded, pulled out a spare nightshirt, and dropped it onto Lucius' lap.

Lucius looked down at the thing as if he really wanted to protest, but took it in his hands and drew it over his head. He stood as his head reappeared through the neck hole, and unfastened the blanket from his waist as he drew the shirt down over his head. For one particularly malicious moment, Severus wondered if something tragic had happened to the Malfoy family jewels, resulting in his apparent sudden interest in modesty. But only for a moment.

When the nightshirt was in place and straight, Lucius looked up at him from the floor. "And where will you be sleeping tonight?"

�At Hogwarts, of course,� Severus replied, allowing himself a bit of his trademark haughtiness, because Lucius was wrong and he was going to lord something over the man, �I do have a job there, I don�t just wander about spying for you.�

Lucius raised a brow at Severus� attitude, but didn�t look as if he particularly cared. �Of course you do. You could go back in the morning, you know. After you�ve had the chance to fix me breakfast and I�ve answered all your little questions.�

�Sounds delightful,� Severus muttered dryly. He wondered if Voldemort would really mind all that much if Lucius was found dead mere hours after his harrowing escape from Azkaban, the apparent victim of accidental food poisoning. Because he had a few potions at the ready for just such an occasion, and he suddenly felt like preparing a very large meal for Lucius� breakfast.

----------------------------------------------------
T.B.C.
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Another Year Another DADA Professor